


School Detentions

by ZWorld



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Bottom Eren Yeager, Cleaning, Eventual Smut, High School Student Eren Yeager, Humor, Janitor Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), M/M, No Actual Sexual Activity Until Eren Yeager is 18, Original Special Operations Squad | Squad Levi, School Detentions, Second-Hand Embarrassment, Senior Year Eren Yeager, Teen Crush, Top Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-20
Updated: 2020-03-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:15:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23227717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZWorld/pseuds/ZWorld
Summary: Framed for a crime he did not commit, Eren Yeager starts attending after school detentions with janitor Levi and his cleaning squad as an alternative for getting suspended. It’s a rocky start that soon turns into something memorable.
Relationships: Levi & Eren Yeager, Levi/Eren Yeager, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 36
Kudos: 134





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



> Happy Birthday[DatWriterWannaBe!!!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DatWriterWannaBe/pseuds/DatWriterWannaBe)  
> You can also find them on [Tumblr!](http://datwriterwannabe.tumblr.com)
> 
> I hope you have the best birthday ever!!! That your day is amazing!! I apologise that it didn't end up the way it was originally intended! Nevertheless, I hope you and all the other lovely people who will come around and read this fic will end up enjoying it!
> 
> Fic is not beta'd in any way! Please excuse any mistakes.  
> Please note this fic starts off with Eren having a few.... stomach problems. If you wish to skip the part, please search "back of his knees"

“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god...” 

A brown haired teen cursed under his breath. Grimacing, he dropped his head between his arms, threading sweaty fingers through thick brown hair. 

_Not again_ , he cried internally, his stomach gurgling loudly.

 _I knew I shouldn’t have had those chilli bean tacos for breakfast_ , he thought regretfully. Another grumble came from his lower gut as he felt the gas shift through his intestines. 

Groaning lowly, Eren stretched over the desk he was seated at. He hoped the change in positions would stop the gas shifting downwind, but it was no use. Those beans were dead set on embarrassing the teen in front of his class.

Another rumble had Eren opening his emerald eyes widely, inspecting half of his peers in the classroom. It had sounded so loud, he could of sworn everyone else heard it. Thankfully, it didn’t seem so as no one paid him any attention. 

Well, except for his childhood friend, Armin, who was sitting at the desk next to him. The blond teen gave him a look of pity through his thick black rims. Even had the audacity to twitch the corners of his lips before quickly covering his mouth with a hand. Eren shot him a scowl, only for Armin to quickly flick his head back to the front of the classroom where their teacher droned on and on about some history lesson Eren gave no shits about. 

His stomach was doing a fine job of keeping him in pain and distracted. Another gurgle had Eren pressing hard into the wooden desk, whining in a quiet, high pitched voice as his muscles contracted. He clinched his butt cheeks tightly in saving his dignity of sharting himself.

When his forehead began growing wet with sweat and his white dress shirt under his sweatshirt stuck to him uncomfortably; Eren knew there was no hope. There were only twenty minutes left of class. He didn’t _care_ anymore that this material will be in the next test. His asshole was not having this war a minute longer. It was ready to bomb his seat with grenades made from unprocessed red kidney beans. 

Another contraction had Eren shooting up, his body stiff as a board and arm shot up straight as an arrow. He held his breath, stock still as he squeezed all his nether regions and prayed mercilessly. His face was bright red, his cheeks puffed and his chin pressed into his neck, exposing a double chin that he never knew he had.  
  
_Just a bit longer, for the love of god,_ Eren begged internally, sweat rolling down his temples.

It felt like an eternity for his teacher to turn towards Eren. The blonde man looked at him curiously, his usual stern face softening and his thick eyebrows raising in interest as he nodded.

“What is it, Yeager?” Mr Smith asked.

All eyes shifted towards the teen, causing anxiety to erupt in his chest. _Dear god,_ Eren cried. Now everyone is going to know he’s about to shit himself. 

“Can-” Eren wheezed. Clearing his throat, trying his hardest to look normal again as he lowered his arm. “Can I go to the bathroom?”

“Try again,” the dick of the teacher smirked, crossing his muscular arms. Eren didn’t want to play these stupid games. He needed to get the hell out of there. 

_“Asshole_ ,” Eren cursed under his breath, gritting his teeth angrily. “May,” he growled, “I use the bathroom?”

Mr Smith sighed, a small smile on his lips. “You may,” he replied, turning back to the whiteboard. 

Eren sighed in relief, watching everyone around him slowly turn back to the board as well. Once he was sure no eyes were left on him, the teen took a deep breath and stood up straight, testing to see if the coast was clear for him to walk somewhat normally. With no protesting muscles, he was able to not waddle like a penguin towards the door. 

Everything felt like it was in slow motion as he turned to close the door which only resulted in him spotting the local resident douchebag and friend, Jean, snickering at him. 

Rolling his eyes, Eren quickly ran down the hall as soon as he was a few inches past the closed door. He booked it to the nearest male toilets he could find; all the way down the long high school corridor. He only had to stop once to clench his ass, or else he would have definitely soiled his underpants.

The bathroom had the typical smell of strong bleach, but there was something else in the mixture. Something that smelled like paint or paint thinner he once used in art class back when he was a freshman. Wrinkling his nose at the burning smell, Eren paid it no attention, figuring maybe the janitor had just recently cleaned the bathrooms. He leaped towards the nearest cubicle, banging the wooden door shut and locking it with sweaty, shaky fingers.

Pulling down his pants, he quickly sat down, not a minute too late before a symphony of gas was released. They played out in long drawn strings, almost putting Mozart's string quartet to shame. It was only then the explosion came, setting him off to the moon like he was a rocket fueled by his own ass. 

Eren was so high on the euphoria of relief, he was impressed when a particular hard squeeze made the most beautiful classical violin song he’d ever heard in his life. He moaned, which only melted into a laugh and cry; all at the same time because his asshole burned so much. 

One last push had him out of breath and huffing. He leaned back against the toilet, suddenly empty and out of energy. His heart was racing a mile a minute, his blood pumping wildly with adrenaline. It had been such a workout he was sweating like he’d just ran a couple of miles. He could feel it roll down the back of his knees and temples. His short brown hair stuck to his forehead too. With the back of his hand, he went to swat it to the side, only to groan in disgust when his wet shirt pulled under his armpits.

Leaning forward and just as he was going to wipe the sweat away from the back of his knees, Eren spotted something above the toilet paper dispenser. It was a streak of thick black ink with small droplets of still barely wet paint running down from it. His green eyes followed the line upwards. Shifting off to the side to get a better look, Eren’s eyes widened when he realised it was a word. 

_‘Dick.’_

The word stood out boldly against the light blue cubicle walls. It was large, almost taking up the entire wall. It shined underneath the fluorescent lights, looking as if it was still wet. Eren leaned forward, using his pinky finger to confirm his suspicions. It was. It was freshly spray painted. He gasped, quickly wiping it off on the hanging piece of toilet paper. 

Eren couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He stared in amazement, eyes sparkling at the sight. Never in his life had he seen someone graffiti _anything_ in the school. The janitor slash grounds keeper - who he most certainly did not think was hot as fuck - they had at school was such a clean-freak that the entire establishment was usually spotless. There was never any graffiti or scratches on wooden desks in the classrooms or cafeteria or even in the cubicles in the bathrooms. Floors were always freshly polished and everything was always pristine. It was a miracle to have found this treat of something so _dirty_. He had to take a picture. His friends wouldn’t believe him otherwise. There was no way. 

He fished for his phone that sat in his pockets, turning it on and going to snapchat. He headed straight for the big group chat they had and quickly snapped a picture. And not just one. Smiling, he took a few from different angles, only so they couldn’t say he faked them. Especially Armin. That little blonde always had ways of rationalising and outdoing Eren in anything he did or said.

With that done and sorted, he got himself clean and headed on out to wash his hands. Only, Eren was stopped dead in his tracks when he looked up to find the large mirror in front of him completely covered in more slur words. 

‘One eyed snake,’ was sprayed right across the top. Followed by a mass of smaller words ranging from schlong, or shlong because clearly this person couldn’t spell, joystick, dong, sex pistol, and many more. Eren’s chest started to shake before he erupted into laughter, accidentally snorting as he cackled over the obscene slang. 

“What the hell,” Eren laughed, fishing for his phone again to start taking pictures. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing! That some kid from his school came in here and sprayed painted the mirror. He twisted his body, finding that it wasn’t just the mirror either. It was the _entire_ bathroom. 

“Holy shit,” he said incredulously, the camera shutter going off wildly. He was so distracted he failed to realise the rubbish tin sitting under the paper towel dispenser filled with 2 empty spray cans nor the sound of the bathroom door opening. 

“Yeager!” A deep, booming voice filled the empty bathroom, echoing off the walls, making Eren jump in fear. “What is the meaning of this!?” 

“Fuck!” Eren shouted, spinning around quickly as his phone slipped from his fingers and cluttered against the tiles. He hands shot up in defense, his heart racing a mile a minute, anxiety spiking up in his chest. 

Mr Smith stood in the doorway, caterpillar eyebrows furrowed in deep anger, lips pursed tightly and knuckles white as he clenched the framing of the wall. “I’m very, very disappointed in you, Eren.” 

“I-I-it wasn’t me!” Eren defended, his eye brows pinched, his expression pleading for Mr Smith to believe him. He swallowed, shouting, “I swear! I came in here because I had the runs and, and, and-”

Eren shoved his arms forward, his hands shaking in fear, showing that they were clean with no paint on them. However, he suddenly remembered that he ran his pinky along the streak in the cubicle, having stained it. He quickly fisted his hand, gulping as he felt piercing blue eyes on him. 

“Please believe me! It was here when I came in!”

“Doesn’t seem like, Yeager. You ought to be ashamed of yourself,” Mr Smith seethed between gritted teeth. “Principal’s office, right now!”

“It wasn’t me!” Eren pleaded again, gritting his own teeth. Mr Smith only shook his head angrily, clearly not believing a word Eren was trying to say. How was Eren meant to prove his innocence when Mr Smith wasn’t bothering to even listen to reasoning.

“Now!” Mr Smith pointed his thumb behind him.

Eren fisted his hands, fingernails digging into his skin painfully, his pleading face motioned into anger as he bent down to pick up his phone - luckily with no shattered screen - before stomping past Mr Smith, shoving past him bodily. 

Eren didn’t even care that he hadn’t been able to wash his hands. Rather, his mind ran a mile a minute, going from anger to anxiety to fear and back to anger. How the hell was he going to get out of this? How was he going to prove that it wasn’t him? And why exactly did Mr Smith even come looking for him? Was this all a joke? Was this a set up? 

Mr Smith followed him to the office on the other side of the school. The teen was instructed to sit down on a chair where the principal’s secretary worked at her desk. She was typing away before following Mr Smith’s demands to call Eren’s emergency contact; his mother. 

Eren slumped in the plastic stool, bending forward to rest his elbows on his thighs and run his hands over his face and through his hair. He gripped at tightly, still angry over being blamed for something he did not do. How was he ever going to get out of this, he wondered.

Time ticked away slowly until his mother arrived. His heart was erratic, chest tight, his stomach filled with nervous tension as he listened to the deafening ticking clock up against the wall. He tried to get his breathing under control; to stay calm even though he was beginning to freak out more and more at the thought of what his punishment was going to be. 

Surely they wouldn’t expel him. They didn’t have any proof that it was him. But then again, he did have the photos on his phone and that’d probably be used against him. Followed by the fact that it was still wet, meaning whoever marked the bathroom had probably left only a few minutes before Eren had entered. 

_What rotten luck,_ he thought bitterly. 

Eren couldn’t handle the thought of being expelled. Even having a suspension would be bad. What was his mother going to think? No, fuck that. What was his dad going to think? Was he even going to wake up the following day with his balls intact? Would he even be able to go home? Would he be jailed for this? Eren didn’t even want to wait to find out. 

_It’s so unfair,_ he cried internally. Since the beginning of sophomore year, he’d tried so hard to be a good student. He didn’t get into fights anymore, even though it was so tempting with how badly Armin would sometimes get bullied. Or how annoying Jean could be. He always tried to stay unseen, never in the spotlight, and quietly go about his classes and joyfully spend his lunch breaks with his friends. Because of Armin and Marco, he did pretty good in his subjects too. He expected with how things were going, he’d be able to complete this final semester in his senior year just as quietly.

Clearly, fate didn’t have that in mind for him. 

What if he does end up expelled and in jail. What if the colleges he applied for hears of this and all his hard work on SATs from junior year was all for nought? That thought within itself had Eren drowning in anxiety. His breathing was laboured and he could feel his body shaking. He tried to calm himself, but no matter what, he kept suffocating with each number count and deep breath he drew.

The sound of high heels pulled him back out of his slowly darkening thoughts. They were heavy and almost angry. It reminded him so much of his own that when he peeked a look from his lowered head, it was all but confirmed that yes, his mum had arrived. 

Dot Pixis, the principal, wasted no time opening his door as soon as her arrival was announced. Eren cowered in fear when both Pixis and his mother looked over at him after they greeted each other. He knew he was in the biggest shit for this and with the scowl on his mother’s face, he was definitely grounded until the day he leaves for college that coming fall. Her brown eyes showed utter disappointment, her usually pretty pink lips pulled tight and white. 

The meeting itself was long. He was surprised to see that three others joined them. Eren was sitting on one of the fabric chairs, his mother right next to him. Standing beside seated Pixis was Nile Dok, the deputy Principal, and then there was Mr Smith and the janitor slash groundskeeper, Levi. Which had Eren’s heart skipping a beat because, wow, he’d never been in that close proximity of the man before.

It all started off with Mr Dok spouting out how horrific the entire situation was. How it would make the school look bad. How it would _ruin_ the reputation it’s built up. Eren spent the entire time looking angrily at the man with greasy hair and shabby mustache. He never liked the guy and unfortunately, all of freshman year the teen had to deal with him because of the fights he got into back then. Mr Dok of course didn’t waste time in reminding every person in the room about those.

Mr Smith also voiced his own disappointment, stating Eren had become such a good and clever student, with high hopes of getting accepted to big colleges with his reference. He didn’t expect the teen to do such a thing after how hard he’s tried to become responsible over the years. He was incredibly angry and demanded Eren needs a semester of detentions _at least_. Mr Dok immediately shot that idea down, suggesting that Eren should be suspended for a month instead. Locked up in his room to think about his actions. 

Carla, Eren’s mother, protested the entire time; fighting for Eren’s position as the teen knew he best kept quiet during the meeting. If he tried to argue, it wouldn’t help his case at all. The only time he was able to talk was to explain that he simply went to the bathroom because of his stomach problems from eating chilli bean tacos that morning. His face grew bright red as he tried to persuade the adults. Which, dear god, did it feel like a punch in his dignity. Not only for his history teacher to know he had to shit, but even the fucking _hot_ janitor. How embarrassing. 

Carla had confirmed it was true because she saw him heat the mixture up that morning as she made her own coffee. She even stated that Eren’s stomach didn’t like the mixture as this always happened. To prove even further that it wasn’t the teen, she said if it was Eren, he’d have no money to buy the spray paints in the first place. He had a strict budget of an allowance. Never mind the fact he wasn’t even the legal age to buy the paint anyway. Also, what if Eren’s potential colleges caught wind of his suspension? Wouldn’t that put his future in jeopardy?

They all bickered back and forth until the old, balding principal sighed deeply, raising a hand in the air to quieten everyone up. 

“What do you think, Levi?” Pixis asked, eyes gentle and lips pulled into a small smile as he looked at the janitor who had kept quiet since entering the room. 

Everyone, including Eren, turned to Levi. The short, dark haired man stood with his arms crossed and leaning against a wall. His face was a complete mask as he looked up; sharp silver eyes flitting to Eren and then back to Pixis. He hummed quietly, shifting as he thought it over. 

Eren waited with bated breath, eyes roaming over the short man. He was in blue overalls with the long sleeves rolled up to show off his pale sculpted forearms. Eren’s cheeks flamed red as the thought of this man knowing he nearly shat himself came to mind. He was never going to live this down, was he? He might as well bury himself in a deep hole because he could no longer live on knowing the janitor he’s crushed on since freshman year knew of such a thing.

“Kid’s in his last semester of senior year. Suspending him could affect his college applications.” 

“Considering what he’s done, he deserves that _and_ more,” Mr Dok interrupted. “What he needs is punishment for his actions.”

Clicking his tongue, Levi glared at Mr dok. “You know this kid did shit all. I say give him to me for the rest of the semester. I’ll teach him real quick.” 

Eren’s brain short-circuited at janitor Levi’s suggestion. Suddenly his mind was whirling uncontrollably as he thought about all the hours he’d have to spend with the man. The idea was both nerve-wracking and exciting. He didn’t think any other student at the school ever had this opportunity. Well, it wasn’t like anyone would’ve wanted to either. Considering even though Levi was good looking, there were many rumours that floated around about him and his sketchy past. 

Mr Dok groaned, about to voice yet another unwanted opinion. 

“Very well,” Pixis quickly answered. “Eren, for the rest of the semester and your time at Wall high school, we’ll have you doing after school detentions with Levi and his team. I expect you to reflect on what you’ve done and trust Levi to discipline and guide you.” 

_Rest of the semester!?_ Eren screamed internally. That meant the entire school year! Nearly four months since it was the end of January. 

“Thank you, Pixis,” Carla said, tapping Eren on his forearm. The teen rushed to say his thanks too, his mind struggling to keep up with the conversation as it leaped to all kinds of thoughts. 

Pixis chuckled as Eren thanked him again, telling him that it was no need. He continued on to speak to Carla about what the detentions would entail, including the hours. The teen tried to listen in, although he couldn't help but overhear Levi scoffing. Straining his ears, he heard the man muttering to Nile.

“Be glad you found your scapegoat, Dok.” 

_What did that mean?_ Eren pondered. He didn’t have enough time to linger on it before Pixis drew him back, dismissing everyone from the meeting. Eren was relieved to hear that he would be able to go back to class. Lunch was about to proceed and he was itching to tell Armin and Mikasa about what happened. He stood abruptly, quickly walking out past the secretary's office and straight into the hallway; having every intention to book it the heck out of there before his mother caught him. 

Unfortunately, Eren was too slow as she gripped his arm tightly, pulling him to a stop. 

“Eren,” she growled, waiting for the teen to meet her eyes. “What a silly boy you are,” she chatisted, a finger coming up to point at him accusingly. “How could you do such a thing?” 

She wore a deep frown, her eyes slightly red and tear-filled. Her cheeks were a shade of pink too, out of anger or embarrassment, Eren wasn’t too sure. He gulped, looking down at the accusing finger.

“I didn’t,” Eren protested. “I was telling the truth in there, Ma! Please believe me.” His eyes pleaded, his lips formed into a frown, pulling his best ‘I’m innocent’ face he could muster. His heart clenched inside his chest, sad that his mother stood up for him, but still didn’t trust him enough to see logic. “Ma, you know I’d never do anything like that.” 

She watched him for a long while, her light brown eyes slowly softening. She sighed, thumb and forefinger rubbing at the bridge of her nose. “No matter what is the truth and what isn’t, you’re grounded. No phone and no electronics at all until I say so.” 

Eren pulled a face, grimacing as he stepped back. “But Ma!” he exclaimed. “I’m serious, it wasn’t me!” When he got no reply he tried again. “This is so unfair. Why won't you believe me?” he complained. Having heard enough of his childish complaints, Carla looked up.

“Ah!” she answered back pointedly, face firm once more, holding her hand out expectantly. “Consider this a compromise. Hand it over and take the grounding, and I won’t tell Grisha. _Or_ I could tell him-” 

Eren rolled his eyes, closing them as he thought over the negotiation. He would’ve preferred neither options. He groaned, running a hand through his hair in frustration. Today was shaping out to be the worst day of his fucking life, wasn’t it? But god forbid his father found out about this. Who knows what will happen then. He’d much rather deal with no electronics than be kicked out of the house or forced to sit through hours of lectures.

Defeatedly he opened up his eyes, taking the phone out of his pocket to hand it over to his mum. 

“What about homework?” he asked worriedly. “I need to type up stuff and-”

“You’ll have an hour every day to complete it on my laptop while sitting in the lounge.” 

_Well, it could be worse,_ he decided. She probably could’ve told him to figure it out himself. He’d just have to make do. 

“This also means no prom, homecoming or any school events. And most certainly _no_ loitering about after school. I expect you home on time tonight, and every night after your detentions. Understood, Darling?” 

_Aaaand, it got worse,_ Eren thought, tears clouding his vision. No prom? No school events? How was he supposed to support his friends in their sport competitions now? Or Armin’s math-Olympics? Why was his mum sucking all of his socialization out of his life along with the electronics? Wasn’t this punishment too harsh? It wasn’t even his doing, for god’s sake! Why was no one believing him?

“Yeah, Ma,” Eren muttered defeatedly, looking down to the shiny floors. “Whatever you say.” 

“Have a good day then, sweetheart,” she finished, her lips slipping into a smile before ruffling her son’s hair. He swatted her hand away, not in the mood for her shenanigans. 

Eren looked on somberly as his mother walked down the corridor. How on earth he went from needing to _shit_ real bad to his life suddenly ruined within a singular hour had him bewildered. Hell, he was still angry and frustrated too. Especially since it wasn’t his fault. 

Yet, in the back of his mind he couldn’t help but think well of the prospect of working with janitor Levi. It was the only positive aspect out of the entire ordeal. Maybe fate had something planned for him and being close to Levi would be what lead him to something great.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be more to come! It's a crazy time irl, but most of the fic is complete! I just need to find time to finish it off and edit!! I didn't want my friend to wait any longer for her gift!!!


	2. Chapter 2

A horrifyingly loud beeping noise woke Eren up with a start the next morning. He groaned under his breath, hitting the alarm clock he hadn’t used since he was a kid with a hard smack. It took a few attempts before the stupid thing quietened down. 

Sighing, he turned onto his back inside the warm depths of his bed, snuggling into the soft blankets as he thought of what that afternoon was going to entail. He didn’t know exactly what janitor Levi had in mind for him, but the idea of being around him was exciting and scary nonetheless. 

Eren knew for sure there would be many girls in the school that’d jump at the chance to do detention with the janitor. It was a common sight to see girls fawn and ogle at Levi whenever possible. Being the janitor and groundskeeper meant the man was there for nearly the entire day. Often he’d linger on the grounds, or in the cafeteria; cleaning up after students or fixing this and that problem, whether it be a leaky pipe or a light bulb that had blown. If anything, the man was basically a full time staff member, much like the teachers, compared to the other cleaners that arrived after school. It was no secret since so many students stayed behind for after school activities. Or, you know, lingered about to watch Levi mop and polish the school.

Eren could at least admit that he too thought the janitor was easy on the eyes. Hell, his friends sure as heck made it clear that he often stared as well. That always resulted in them teasing him mercilessly during lunch times or at the moment the janitor was within sight. Jean had a knack of pointing it out especially. He had a field day one spring afternoon a few years back when Eren accidentally drooled as he watched Levi in nothing but shorts scrub clean the empty indoor swimming pool. 

However, as good looking as the man was, it was no secret that he carried a dark, menacing aura. There was a reason why no one but the teachers approached him. He had a vibe that said he was untouchable and dangerous. His glare was scary and whoever it was aimed at was usually seen running away rather urgently. He was blunt and snarky, and of course he usually didn’t give any of the students time of the day. It was a known fact that he did not like teenagers or children. 

There were always rumours spreading like wildfire about him. When Eren first entered the school as a freshman, the leading story was that Levi was a gang leader with a side job. The rumours shifted from there, many saying that he was a drug dealer or a lightweight fighter. The most outrageous one being that he was that anonymous singer on the internet that went by the name of No Name. Apparently their looks were uncanny. Eren failed to see the resemblance and doubted every time the rumour came about. His most favourite story was from his junior year when one of the senior jocks had seen Levi out in the red light district. The idea that he was a prostitute and porn star persistently stayed around for at least a year before it dwindled back to an ex drug addict and so on. 

Yet, Eren’s mind liked to always dwindle back to the idea of Levi being a secret porn star for extra money. The man had it in him with his fit body and good looks and it wasn’t hard to give into his charged hormones and start off the day in one of the best ways possible. That very thought had the teen snaking his hand down his belly and to the elastic of his pants.

A gentle knock on the door distracted Eren from his actions. His smile faltered as he squeezed his eyes tighter. He didn’t want to be pulled from the image of Levi’s shirtless back with the muscles flexing under his pale skin.

“Eren,” Carla called from the other side of the door. 

_No, don’t bug me,_ he complained. He refused to leave his happy place. He shifted, pushing the covers over his face.

“Eren, honey?” she called again.

Gritting his teeth because clearly she wasn’t going to leave him alone, Eren shoved the blankets off his head before he yelled, “What is it, Ma!?” 

“You’re going to be late for school!”

It couldn’t be! His alarm only went off five minutes ago. Eren slipped his eyes open, peeking at the red numbers of his clock. He gasped as he zoned in on the time. 7.30am. His chest tightened at the sudden realisation that he had somehow spent half an hour daydreaming about janitor Levi. Panic overcame him, causing the teen to throw the covers off completely and jump out of bed. 

In all true Eren fashion, he raced around the bedroom, his mind playing the _Benny Hill_ theme song while he caused a small tornado-like destruction in his room. He grabbed yesterday’s jeans from his desk chair, racing to the wardrobe to pick the first dress shirt he could find - pastel blue - and his usual sweatshirt. He forgoed the comb and gel, brushing his teeth vigorously in the bathroom down the hall before racing downstairs with his backpack that he threw on the kitchen table.

Tapping his foot impatiently, he waited for his toast to pop in record time. Under cooked would just have to do for today. He slathered that bad-boy with a thick layer of butter before racing out of the kitchen, toast between his teeth and backpack in hand. 

“Don’t forget your lunch money!” his mum called after him. 

He groaned as he chewed on the toast, hopping about as he struggled into his converse sneakers. Carla handed him the money so he could shove it into his thick winter jacket that hung in the entrance hall.

“Don’t get into any more trouble today, young man!” she warned him. “And be good at your detention!”

Eren snorted, nearly choking on his toast as he made a run for it down the suburban street. On a normal day, he’d catch the bus at the stop down the road. But alas, he got so distracted that he’d clearly missed his chance. Luckily, he only lived four streets away from his high school, however, a fresh layer of snow covered the ground making everything slippery as he ran. 

By the time he rounded the final corner with his school in sight, the toast was eaten and his body was covered in a thick layer of sweat under his winter jacket and clothes. Checking his wrist watch that he spent all night looking for, he had fifteen minutes to spare before the first bell. 

The brunet didn’t think he was going to make it. His chest was so tight, his throat so raw from the scratchy toast, cold air, and over exertion first thing in the morning that he thought maybe that one popular jock, Reiner, was right; he should’ve joined the football team after all. Yet, he thanked the heavens for his long legs as he neared the school, spotting a familiar blonde haired boy along with two black haired friends and the local douchebag beside them. 

“Armin! Mikasa! Marco! Horseface!” he hollered breathlessly, finally catching up to them. 

The group stopped and turned, all looking down worriedly as Eren bent over to grab his knees, huffing puffs of steam into the cold air to get his breathing under control. 

“Did you sleep in again?” Marco asked worriedly. 

Jean scoffed loudly beside their freckled friend before opening his loud mouth to taunt at the teen. “Yeah right, Marco. Why so late, Yeager? Had too much fun jacking off to the thought of janitor Levi this morning?” 

“Shut up,” Eren grumbled, shoving Jean by the shoulder. Jean laughed anyway, hands tucked deep into his letterman jacket. “I was just enjoying my warm bed,” Eren tried to explain breathlessly. Which, really, he was. Even if Jean was almost right. If his brain had given any more images that morning, it surely was heading to that.

Mikasa pursed her lips, patting Eren’s back soothingly before they continued to walk. He easily zoned out as they made their way into the corridors. His mind drifted to the checklist of homework he had to do the previous night. Mikasa was on her phone beside him, Jean was yapping away at her while she paid him no attention and the two nerds were talking about some volleyball anime that was airing. The corridors were busy, students hustling and bustling about as everyone caught up before they all had to disperse into their homeroom classes.

They made a stop at their row of lockers, grabbing books and stuffing thick unnecessary jackets inside. Eren dreaded having to take out his history books after what happened the previous day with Mr Smith. How was he ever going to look the man in the eyes again after fruitlessly arguing that he only went into the toilets because he had to shit so bad? Eren would much rather dig himself a hole, if he was honest. Because yeah, while Mr Smith could be strict and a dickhead, he was also good looking and too well built for something lame as a history teacher. 

“That’s weird,” Marco murmured, just barely audible in the noisy hallways filled with dozens of students.

“What is?” Armin asked, shutting his locker.

“Wonder why janitor Levi is here so early and carrying a paint bucket?” 

At the mention of janitor Levi, Eren’s head snapped up, body twisting around as green eyes searched frantically for where the man was. It was a struggle to find him considering the majority of the student body towered over him. Marco chuckled beside him, pointing his finger down the opposite end of the corridor. True to his words, Levi was in fact carrying a heavy looking paint bucket and a few painting supplies.

Jean shoved his way in front of them, pulling out his phone to zoom in and take a snapchat. “Looks like he’s going to clean up your mess today, Eren.” 

Eren rolled his eyes, begrudgingly twisting back to his locker. “Shut up, Horseface. It wasn’t me. You guys know that.” 

“Of course it wasn’t you,” Armin reassured, his expression soft. 

“Yeah, you’re not creative enough to do something like that,” Jean sassed loudly. Eren gritted his teeth as he scowled at the horse faced teen. He had half the mind to think that his punishment couldn’t get any worse if he delivered a nice ‘fuck you’ punch to Jean’s jaw. 

Marco waved his hand in front of Jean, shaking his head. “Ahh, ignore what Jean said. It’s just due to unfortunate circumstances, you’re the one dealing with the punishment. I don’t get why they did it without seeking further proof.” 

“Well since it’s not Yeager. Which badass do you think did it?” Jean asked.

“Don’t know. I’ve texted the group to meet at lunch to discuss,” Marco informed. “Armin had a brilliant idea last night that if we can find the real culprit, maybe we can prove Eren’s innocence.”

“I bet it was Annie or someone,” Jean offered, the first warning bell ringing loudly.

“N-no,” Armin quickly disagreed, defending his crush and the ‘bad girl’ of their year level. “She wouldn’t do that. Not in the male bathrooms.”

“I agree, it’s not Annie, it has to be a boy,” Mikasa added her input, having been quiet the entire time. “Time for class, see you all at lunch.” 

They all dispersed from there, slamming their lockers shut and running off to their respective classrooms. All the while, Eren couldn’t help but think about how rowdy their lunch time had been the previous day. They were all shocked when he told them what happened. Clearly none of them believed him, but when he showed his empty pockets of no phone, Armin was the one who confirmed that Carla would never do such a thing otherwise. Being the good friend Armin was, he offered Eren to use his phone whenever he wanted to check emails and partake in their group’s shenanigans.

Eren hated not being able to contact his friends at any given point. The night before wore on so slowly. He was utterly bored with having nothing to do. The fact that even his gaming console and laptop was taken away from him left him going to bed before nine at night; something he’s never done since he was in elementary school. 

Luckily he could still talk to them during school and thankfully, they were willing to help him find the real culprit. He was unrightfully framed. His friends all knew Eren wouldn’t do such a thing, even if horse-face joked about it. And if anything, Mr Dok should’ve known that too considering he spent so much time in detention with Eren in freshman year. It really was all unfair. 

-

As instructed by principal Pixis during the meeting, Eren waited patiently outside the small prefab office attached to the indoor gymnasium. He’s never had a reason to visit Levi’s office. Nor has any student ever seen what it looked like on the inside. The rumour mill said it contained a lot of stashed cash and drugs, but he was sensible enough to assume, considering the janitor’s cleaning habits, that it only had masses of cleaning products. Maybe some weights too, since he was so muscular in all the right ways.

The teen tugged at his thick black jacket, breath clouding around his face as he watched the small flurries of snow drop around the covered walkway. Thankfully he didn’t have to wait long before Levi showed up in his own jacket, followed by four others who were the regular afternoon cleaners. 

Eren’s never seen them up close before or had the chance to meet them. So, once Levi unlocked and opened the door and each one passed him, he realised that they were all shockingly young. He assumed cleaners were as old as his parents or something like that because what younger adult would want to clean a school for a living? 

Once inside, Eren had a look around. He wasn’t surprised in the least over how tidy the small room was. It was simple with dark wooden laminate floors, white walls, a desk and chair, a couch, mini fridge, and many storage cupboards that no doubt housed a whole lot of supplies. It had two extra doors on the end with one labeled bathroom and the other a mystery. The room was nicely warm and smelled lemony fresh.

“Alright, kid, meet the cleaning crew,” Levi spoke, distracting Eren from his investigation. The teen turned, eyes finding the four cleaners in their overalls forming a half circle around him. “Petra, Oluo, Eld and Gunther,” Levi continued, hand pointing to every person as he said their name. 

Petra was the only female in the group and looked incredibly sweet. Her smile was welcoming, her cheeks pink from the cold, and her strawberry blonde hair was tied up tightly. Eren secretly hoped that he would get to work with her at some point. She looked like someone who would be kind to him and teach him patiently. Oluo was blonde and wore a smug smile and his hair was cut similarly to janitor Levi’s 90’s style with an undercut and long top. Eld was the tallest of the group and looked to be the oldest too. He was blonde with long hair that was tied up and had a beard to boot. And then there was Gunther; black haired and very stern looking. Eren immediately got the vibe that he didn’t want to ever work with the latter two as they both looked too strict for the teen’s liking. 

“Nice to meet you, Eren,” Petra welcomed, smiling brightly as the others muttered their greetings too.

“So, who’s stuck with the twerp?” Oluo sneered, his smile still smug as ever. Gunther rolled his eyes, going about his way to take off his coat. Petra and Eld followed his actions, obviously getting ready for their shift.

“I am,” Levi answered, crossing his arms. Eren’s heart began to beat a little faster than normal at that announcement, making him swallow nervously at the prospect. “Kids being punished for tagging the bathroom.” 

“Seriously?” Oluo gasped, eyes wide. “Twerp, that was your work in the toilets?” 

“N-no. It wasn’t me.” Eren shook his head, hands coming up defensively before eyeing Levi who stood beside him. 

“I’ve worked here for five years and ain’t never seen anything like it,” Oluo continued, hands on his hips.

“You must’ve given Levi a good day for having to clean that up,” Eld chirped in, a small smirk on his lips. 

“Probably on cloud nine for working overtime doing his most favourite thing,” Oluo joked. 

Eren snickered, his smile large as he listened to Oluo and Eld joke about their boss. They must’ve worked with each other for so long by now that they felt that comfortable to butcher their boss right in front of his eyes without any fear. 

“And high from it too with all the paint fumes,” Eld added, chuckling under his breath. 

“You guys...” Petra mumbled, her expression looking a bit alarmed. 

“Are you idiots fucking done yet?” Levi asked, voice deep and clearly irritated by his team’s banter. Eren swallowed, face turning to look at the short man worriedly. He wore a deep scowl, his jaw tight as he grinded his teeth. 

“Yeah, sorry,” Eld answered back seriously. 

“Thank fuck. Alright kid, here’s the deal. We do weekly rotations,” Levi started, turning to meet the teen’s eyes. 

Eren shucked in a breath, never before standing full frontal with the janitor. He tried to look normal and beg his suddenly racing heart to calm down. It would not be a good look if he pissed his pants in front of the hot man purely out of both nervousness and infatuation. He didn’t need any more reason to embarrass himself further.

“One week you’ll be cleaning the bathrooms and another week you’ll be doing all the classrooms. The final rotation is the cafeteria and hallways.” Levi paused, tilting his head towards the four cleaners. “On top of that, each pair has a task that is done every day of the week, no matter what roster you’re on. We will be cleaning the library. Petra and Oluo are still doing the specilised classrooms, and Eld and Gunther are onto the gymnasium and gym.”

 _Wait what!?_ Eren screeched internally. He had to do all of that? In only two hours? Wasn’t that too much work? There was no way in hell he’d ever be able to do all of that. Especially not knowing how to even clean in the first place. Levi was having far too high expectations of him! He couldn’t do a professional’s work! It’s impossible!

Eren frowned, speaking out his worries. “Sir, I-I don’t think I can do all that in two hou-”

“No shit,” Levi replied harshly. “I’ll dish out what I want and I expect you to do it without complaints _and_ to get faster as time goes on so you can complete it within two hours.”

“Meaning, there’s no slacking,” Oluo chirped in. “Levi’s standards are high.”

Levi clicked his tongue, ignoring Oluo’s interruption. “If it’s not as clean as I expect, you’ll be staying behind to do it again.” 

Eren pulled a face, not happy with that decision. Wasn’t he going to start falling behind on school work if he had to stay behind further than five? Protesting, he said, “But sir, I’m only here until five and-”

“And we’re here until fucking eight, you little shit,” Levi retorted, scowling fiercely.

Even if his face was warning the teen to shut up and accept the job, Eren fought on harder because there was no way he was going to stay even later than five. How would he even begin to explain that to his mum? “Pixis sai-”

“Enough,” Levi snarled. Eren jolted upward, gasping at the sudden anger. “Fuck what Pixis said. In this room, what I say is what goes. Understood brat?” 

Standing stock still, Eren nodded quickly, clenching his hanging hands. “Ye-yes sir.” 

“Good.” Levi nodded. “Put your shit away in the same cupboard as the rest and follow me.” 

Eren did as instructed quickly, not wanting to make janitor Levi even angrier than he already was. The teen stuffed his jacket and backpack harshly into a cubby before walking towards the other door that wasn’t the bathroom. It was open as the team was already there, pulling out trolleys loaded with cleaning supplies. 

“In here you’ll find the cleaning trolleys and extra supplies such as brooms and vacuums,” Levi explained, allowing Eren to take a peek inside. “Each team has one and is restocked at the end of the cleaning crew’s shift. You don’t need to worry about it as I’ll have yours ready.” 

Eren nodded, noticing that there was one trolley left that had a bunch of bathroom cleaners and bleach on it. There was also a mop and broom attached, and a whole load of rags, gloves, and giant rolls of toilet paper on the lower part of the trolley. The teen swallowed dryly, heart dropping to the pitt of his stomach when he realised that meant he’d be cleaning the toilets for the next two hours and rest of the week. Of course he would be forced to do the most disgusting job first. Probably was all planned out just for him.

“We’re on bathroom duty this week,” Levi confirmed his suspicions. “We’ll start with Block A toilets today.” 

“Yes sir,” Eren mumbled, following Levi begrudgingly out of the office and out into the cold.

For someone with such short legs, the teen was surprised by how quickly the man could walk when pushing the trolley. Within no time they reached the farthest west end of the school and where most of the freshman had their classes. The school had four areas, A to D. Each having twelve classrooms. And then, there was another area that had specialized classrooms for science, art and all the other elect subjects students took. Meaning there were going to be five different bathroom blocks he’d have to clean. Maybe even six or seven, depending if that included the library and gymnasium ones. The thought alone had Eren stressing. One bathroom sounded like hard work. How was he ever going to clean all of them in only two hours? Even worse, how the hell did Levi do such a thing by himself?

“I’ll show you what to do in this first block. After that, you’re on your own, kid,” the janitor said once they reached the set of bathrooms. “Before we go in, put on one of those plastic aprons and a pair of heavy duty gloves.”

Eren quickly did as he was told, matching Levi’s own pace of tying the apron and pulling on the gloves. “The masks?” he asked, pointing to them with a latex gloved finger. 

“A mask as well unless you want your brain fried.” 

Eren snickered at Levi’s crude language, pulling it over his head. 

“Watch carefully as I will not fucking repeat myself,” Levi warned, his eyes sharp. Eren nodded his confirmation before following Levi into the girl’s bathroom. 

“We do the girls as well?” Eren questioned, eyebrows raising to his short fringe as he looked around; never in his life having been in a female bathroom before. 

It amazed him that there wasn’t anything different at all. Well, except for that it had no urinals and there were these strange vending machine-like things attached to the walls that had- He stopped in his slow walk over to the wall, swallowing nervously when he realised what it sold. 

“You’ll need to get the fuck over yourself and fill those up. Keys and supplies on the trolley, kid,” Levi said, his voice echoing in the empty bathroom. “Once you do that, we replace used toilet rolls, soap dispensers, and take out the rubbish in each cubicle.” 

Eren dreaded those words as soon as they left Levi’s mouth. He did as he was told, having the janitor tell him to hurry it up once. Luckily he only had to empty out one sanitary rubbish bin - which he certainly did not gag at, no way - before standing awkwardly at the doorway of a cubicle to watch Levi clean an entire area. 

Oluo hadn’t been joking when he said Levi’s standards were high. From scrubbing the toilet bowl to wiping the entire thing with rags, to even spraying the dispenser and walls; Levi had an immense attention to detail. 

The teen watched the man work while feeling both horrified and amazed. Levi made it look easy. He was so quick about it, Eren didn’t catch over half of the shit he explained. His mind was too dizzy and rammed with new information, he barely even caught how he was meant to clean the wash basins or polish the mirrors. By the time the floors were mopped, Eren was shoved into the bathroom next door and shown the exact same steps, including how to clean urinals. 

It took Levi barely even half an hour to have both glistening white and smelling like a lemon-scented bomb had exploded in each one. Eren shook his head while in a daze as he looked at each bathroom, mouth opened wide in fear that he was never, ever going to be able to do that. The dread set into the pit of his stomach as he was dragged to the next block of toilets before being told that usually while they’d share the bathrooms, Levi was rather going to clean the library and leave Eren be. It was a test to see how well the teen paid attention. 

To say the least, Eren tried his hardest anyway. After already arguing with the janitor and seeing how quick he was to anger, the teen wanted to try and do good at least. However, from gagging at seeing skid marks in a few toilet bowls, to nearly slipping on piss soaked tiles to finding condom wrappers and plastic sheets that contained random facts, Eren was loathing every minute he was in those bathrooms. By the time he reached his fifth toilet, Eren was on his knees, scrubbing the underside of the toilet bowl because how the fuck did some idiot get shit _under_ the toilet? What were his peers even doing in these bathrooms!? Performing pooping aerobics!? 

When he finally reached the last cubicle, Eren was angry and exhausted. His eyes were red and tear rimmed. He was sweating and he was pretty sure he’d never be able to wear his pastel blue dress shirt again. The teen decided right there and then he was going to bring in a change of clothes everyday because there was no way in hell he was going to ruin his normal clothes. 

After finishing both bathrooms, top to bottom minus the mopping, Levi had inspected it ruthlessly. He held nothing back, including his curses and stating how pathetic of a brat Eren was. If anything, Eren stood there slouched and sore, feeling numb while he was criticized mercilessly over every single aspect of his cleaning. 

Apparently there were still water splatters on the mirrors and he’d missed a spot under the toilet seat in the far cubical of the male toilets among many other things. Levi was stern and straight to the point, demanding Eren redo both bathrooms again as he failed his task through and through. 

The teen had stared at Levi in absolute horror. Mouth falling open and eyes brimming with tears. He wanted to shout and argue that he did a _good_ job. It’s the best fucking cleaning he’s ever done in his life. He wanted to beg Levi to give him a break. It was his first time doing this, god damn it! Although, Eren knew better. If he argued, his time with Levi would only get worse. He hated it. He hated it so, so fucking much.

Eren was so angry over the entire thing and all the time he’d spent cleaning the toilets, that he threw the wet rag on the floor, shouting a slur of swear words once Levi was gone. He screamed into the empty bathroom, wanting to smash _something_. 

“Fucking bullshit,” he fumed. “You missed a fucking spot,” he mocked in Levi’s deep voice, nose wrinkling and lips pulled downwards.

At that point he was seething, teeth grinding behind his mask as he scrubbed and scrubbed at every surface he could find. He polished the mirrors with the special cleaner until he was sure it was doing more harm than good. Sprayed the entire vicinities until they smelled like nothing but lemons before mopping the floors, not caring that Levi instructed him not to.

By the time the clock struck five, Eren only managed to finish off those two bathrooms. He had worked up a sweat and smelled strongly of bleach and toilet cleaner. He felt dirty all over and had an immense need to bathe in bleach just to ever feel the same cleanliness again. 

He was hoping to get a “good job, kid,” from Levi but rather, when the man came to inspect his re-attempts at cleaning, the janitor eyed his watch pointedly, clicking his tongue. 

“We did two blocks in two hours. Not good enough, brat.” 

_That's it,_ Eren fumed. He was done. He was done with the shitty fucking attitude the man was giving him. “What!? Are you serious right now!? It’s my first day!” Eren exploded, his voice echoing loudly down the empty hallways. 

“You needed to do four _and_ the library,” Levi argued, crossing his arms in annoyance, clearly ignoring Eren’s statement about it being his first time cleaning. What was the man expecting, even? That he was going to somehow be a magical cleaning warrior in just one detention? 

Eren growled, teeth bared, leaning forward with his hands raised into the air to show his frustration. “That’s impossible in two hours!” 

“Fuck it is, brat. I can do it within that time, then so can you. Hurry the fuck up tomorrow so you can finish the job, understood?” Levi reprimanded. Eren shook his head vigorously.

“Are you kidding me!? There’s no way I can do it!” Eren raged, shaking his hands for impact. 

“Yes you can. You fucking better too. Wouldn’t want Pixis finding out you’re just as incompetent as cleaning as you are at spelling the word _schlong_.” 

Eren snarled, his vision growing blurry as his brows furrowed deeply. His chest tightened at hearing those words in Levi’s deep voice. _Oh you fucking dick_ , Eren raged. 

“I told you already, it wasn’t me,” Eren seethed one last time, voice breaking from how lowly he was talking. “I can’t do it in two hours.” 

Levi jumped towards the teen, shoving him harshly into the metal lockers. Eren wheezed, wind rushing out of his lungs from the push. His emerald eyes opened widely as he stayed still; heart beating in his ears and uncertainty raging in his mind of what was going to happen. Their eyes met, Levi’s own silver ones full of such strong anger and irritation that Eren was wanting to cower in fear, or run, even if logically Levi was nothing but an older man who was much shorter than him. 

“I expect better tomorrow. Do you hear me, brat?” Levi chastised, breaking the silence of their staring competition.

Eren nodded numbly, eye contact never breaking. “Ye-yes sir,” he whispered, his mouth dry, his body in complete shock. 

“Now get the fuck out of my sight. I’ve got work to do.” 

Eren pursed his lips, chest tightening all at the same time. He tried not to cry. He really did. He slipped and brushed aside Levi hurriedly, running down the school halls and back to the janitor's office. He ripped off the plastic apron, mask and gloves, dumping them into a rubbish bin found by the desk. Still sweat slicked and smelling horribly, he pulled on his sweatshirt, jacket and backpack before heading on out into the snowing evening. 

It was already dark by the time he was walking home. The sun usually went down between four and four thirty during mid winter, so it felt strange to walk those empty streets as the snow fluttered around him. It looked ethereal as the street lamps guided him home. It made him also sad knowing that he’d normally be home at this hour, sitting at his desk and chatting to his friends on Discord or playing a game or two. He hated having to be punished for something he didn’t do. Felt so helpless because how was he ever going to do this until June when school ended? Cleaning the bathrooms was hard enough. It didn’t help that janitor Levi was such a bastard too.

It was official. That crush and any respect he held for janitor Levi was gone. What was once interest and infatuation now boiled in hatred and disgust. With an attitude like that, no wonder Levi was always dubbed as a gang leader. It wasn’t so far-fetched anymore. The detentions Eren once looked forward to now suddenly became something he didn’t want to even think about. 

It made his chest bubble in anger and sadness. He didn’t know what to feel depressed about first; the fact that the hot janitor was a major dickhead or that his body was aching in places he never knew it could. Never mind that he smelled like a fucking toilet. Knowing he still had a shit ton of homework to do once home had the teen slowing his footsteps even more, a wavering steam of air releasing in front of his face he was trudged on home.


	3. Chapter 3

Eren didn’t take the bus to school the following morning even though his muscles begged him to. His lower back hurt the most when he woke up, followed by his stiff thighs and arms. It didn’t help that he was suffering from a headache, whether that be due to the smell of cleaning products or his stubborn tears, he couldn’t decide. 

He’d eaten his breakfast somberly, catching his mum watching him worriedly every few minutes. She had asked him how the detention was, but he refused to say anything to her. He’d come home the previous night, headed straight for a shower, scoffed his food down and locked himself into his room to wallow in his own self-pity. After the awful evening he had, Eren thought he was allowed a day of silence and feeling sorry for himself. 

Luckily his friends didn’t nag him too much about it either when they met up at the lockers at school. He could feel all morning that both Armin and Mikasa were itching to ask how he was and why he seemed so low, but thankfully no one broke the ice and allowed him to attend his homeroom class without much of a word. 

Eren had every intention to trudge along the day, doing what he needed to do during classes and sitting quietly at the lunch table while everyone else went about their day. It seemed like that was just the case as he scratched at his scalp, elbows resting on the sticky table with his food forgotten between his arms. He wasn’t in the mood to eat, let alone drink the soda he bought with the extra coins he had. The teen hoped it’d make him feel better, however, after the first sip, he just couldn’t handle the sweetness. It felt too weird compared to the pain he felt in both his muscles and heart.

“Alright, Yeager,” Jean announced, shoving Eren by the shoulder as he sat down in the seat next to him. “What’s your problem today?” 

Eren bit his lip, gnawing on it as he debated whether or not to finally say what he’s been thinking since he left school the night before. It’s not like Jean would really care. Mikasa and Armin weren’t anywhere in sight - it was a Thursday after all; the lunch time day they attended their respective tarot card reading and computing club activities - and the only others at the table was Marco, who was usually at swim practice, and two of their other friends since freshman year, Connie and Sasha. 

“Janitor Levi’s a dick,” Eren muttered quietly, hands trailing down to rub at his sore eyes before resting his chin on the palms of his hand.

“You only realised that now?” Connie asked from across the table. “How have you never noticed, dude?”

“Cause he’s been blinded by his boner,” Jean snickered when Connie didn’t get a reply. Eren was so exhausted that he laughed breathlessly rather than argue back. Jean had a point though. He really was blinded by his stupid imagination. 

Sighing, Eren looked up to Connie. “He said some pretty terrible shit to me last night.”

“Like what?” Connie questioned, eyes trailing down to the tray of untouched food between Eren’s elbows.

“Don’t get me started,” Eren groaned, sliding the tray over towards Connie. Sasha, Connie’s girlfriend, gasped, sitting straight up in her seat, her chocolate brown eyes glimmering as the food neared her. 

“You sure? Don’t you have to be here until five?” Marco asked, voice of reason between all of them. “You should eat, Eren. Or else you’re going to hurt yourself.” 

“Not hungry,” Eren explained. “I can’t stomach anything right now since all I can smell is bleach.” Connie and Sasha fought for the food then, not holding back on saving anything for anyone else. 

“Alright, so what if that dickhead said shitty things to you, it’s not like you to give up without a fight,” Jean replied. 

“You don’t understand. I’m so tired that I _can’t_ fight back. I mean yeah, I’m angry as fucking hell. But I feel like I’ve been bench pressing whatever Reiner does to make him that beefy.” 

Marco chuckled, smile full of pity when he asked, “He worked you that much?” 

“I had to do block B’s bathrooms but my cleaning wasn’t-” Eren paused, raising his fingers for quotation marks, “-up to his standards. So, I had to redo it.” 

“That sucks,” Jean agreed. “Do you only need to clean the bathrooms?” 

“No, they rotate each week. This week I’ve got to do all the bathrooms and then the others are like classrooms and the cafeteria.” 

“Damn, bastard’s got you started on the worst shift,” Jean remarked, leaning an elbow on the lunch table too.

“Tell me about it. He wants me to clean all four block’s toilets _and_ the entire library. Within two fucking hours even,” Eren complained, leaning backwards into the seat, grimacing when his back cracked.

“That’s highly unrealistic,” Marco said, eyebrows drawn low in worry.

“Right!?” Eren exclaimed. “He says he can do all of that within two hours. I call bullshit, even if he could do one block in half an hour.” 

_Then again,_ Eren thought. With the amount of detail Levi had put into his cleaning, it didn’t seem that unrealistic. Maybe when he’s alone, the man works even faster than what he did while showing Eren. 

“Since you did what he wanted and that was obviously not good enough for him. Why not do literally nothing after cleaning one block? Like why even bother aiming for more if you’re going to get into trouble anyway?” Jean suggested. 

“I don’t think that’s a smart idea. Eren might get into more trouble for sitting around,” Marco disagreed, shaking his head. 

“Yeah, Marco has a point, you know,” Eren agreed, frowning at the horse faced teen.

“Try it today, Yeager. You say you’re tired so why not? Like clean the one bathroom block as you would and just sit around until five.”

Eren wanted to admit that the plan did sound pretty good, which was surprising as it was coming from horse-face. The guy wasn’t usually that creative or smart. But then again, Jean had gotten into trouble in freshman year as much as Eren. So perhaps he knew how to cheat the system compared to Eren who took every single punishment with seriousness. Although, even if he followed that rule, half of his detention would mean him actually doing the work before he could rest secretly.

“Yeah but it took me like an hour to do just _one_ block,” Eren replied., voicing his thoughts.

“Then spend the other hour resting,” Jean explained, his smile smug. “Hide in a cubicle or something, man.”

“Alright…” Eren stammered, looking down to the grey coloured counter as he quietly mulled over the idea. 

-

Eren spent his final two periods debating whether to do what Jean had suggested. Logically it seemed like a pretty smart idea. Levi would assume he’s still slow as fuck, and really, after all the shitty things he said to the teen the day before, it surely couldn’t get any worse. Plus, it’s not like he would magically get that much faster after only doing it once. Like sure, he wouldn’t question himself in what order to do things anymore since it pretty much got engraved into his brain, so he probably would be a bit quicker. Although, with how sore he was, he doubted it. 

By the end of the day as he made his way to Levi’s office with his legs and back aching in all the worst kinds of ways, Eren decided that he will take Jean’s advice. He’s going to be spiteful, even if he could get into more trouble. There was no way in hell his arms would allow him to work as fast as the previous night. 

This time around, he was a little later than all the other cleaners. Everyone greeted him, having all pulled out their trolleys and about to head out to their rotations. Petra was about to further talk to him, however, Levi interrupted while wearing a deep scowl and commenting harshly on Eren’s tardiness.

“I expect you to be here on the dot five past three. If not, prepare to stay for half an hour longer for each five minutes you’re late.”

Eren clenched his jaw, urging himself to calm down and not say something snarky back while taking out the extra pair of clothes he brought along. It was best he kept quiet or else he’d only have a repeat of what Levi did last night. He had tried to keep that moment in the back of his mind because he really didn’t want to know what the man was going to do to him after shoving him so fiercely. It had been terrifying and only made him realise why most of the school thought he was a gang leader. Shaking his head, Eren tried to ignore the memory.

“Is there anywhere I can get changed?” Eren asked.

“Bathroom,” Levi nodded in the direction. “Hurry it up, kid. We don’t have all fucking afternoon.”

Entering the toilet room, Eren was surprised to find out that there was also a shower stall attached to it. He figured it’d make sense. There were probably days where Levi would need it after doing particularly horrifying jobs. Eren wondered if any of the cleaners ever used it, considering they were there until eight in the evenings. 

When he left the bathroom, Levi was already gone along with their trolley. Sighing and rolling his eyes, the teen stuffed his clothes into his cubby and headed for Block A bathrooms.

He helped Levi by doing the male toilets until the entire block was clean. From there, the man sent him on wards to block B, stating that he was going to clean the library. He expected Eren to be done within half an hour and said he’ll be back to check up on him. 

It was grueling work. Eren couldn’t decide which was worse; the females or the males. Between having piss all over the male’s bathrooms and soggy toilet paper and plastic wrappers on the floor of the female’s, he ended up hating both. His muscles protested each step of the way, urging Eren to work slower and slower as the time went on. 

When half an hour passed, Levi came to check up on Eren, which only ended with a slur of curse words and a couple of yells for the teen to “hurry the fuck up.” Eren had rolled his eyes and continued on. Miraculously he was done by the time it reached four thirty in the afternoon. So, he made use of Jean’s advice and locked himself in one of the toilet cubicles and sat on a toilet seat. 

Leaning back against the toilet, Eren sighed deeply, closed his eyes and stretched his stiff legs. The blood was pumping within them to the beat of his heart, causing them to swell and feel heavy. His lower back was screaming, begging for Eren to reach on over and give it a rub, although he refused as he still wore gloves. 

Eren knew it was only the beginning and that surely it’d get easier and better with time, just like his school work had. But he couldn’t help wonder just when his body would stop hurting. When was that going to become less painful? Would it ever? 

On a positive note, when Levi did his second inspection, his remarks weren't nearly as harsh as the day before. Of course, there were a lot of things Eren had to re-do, although he was left unscathed and not cowering in fear as the man wasn’t yelling at him as loudly this time. 

“Not bad for your second day kid. Just for the love of god, hurry the fuck up,” Levi nagged, pushing the trolley over to Block C. Today he wasn’t in overalls but rather a dress shirt and matching slacks. Nothing new to Eren of course since the janitor usually rotated the two different outfits.

“I will, eventually,” Eren muttered defeatedly, peeling his eyes off the janitor and back to the shining hallway flooring before his cheeks could get any more red from how well those slacks fitted the man. 

“Eventually isn’t good enough,” Levi retorted. After a small beat of silence, he continued, “It’s Friday tomorrow and lucky for you, I got Pixis to agree that you’ll stay until six.” 

“What!?” Eren exclaimed, coming to a stop. “That’s not fair! I never agreed to that!”

“I expect you to finish Block C tomorrow too. If not, you will be repeating the bathroom rotation next week,” Levi answered, still walking on with the trolley. “See you tomorrow, kid.”

 _Oh you fucking bastard,_ Eren wanted to scream. _No matter how hot you are, you're a total dickhead. Why are you being so hard on me like this!?_

He hated it. 

hated how he felt the need to take Levi up on his challenge. Loathed the fact that he even thought of it as a challenge in the first place. Most of all, was so confused why he even wanted to prove Levi wrong. And true, if Eren was being honest, he really didn’t want to spend another week cleaning the bathrooms. The other rotations sounded so much easier in comparison. As much as how nice it was for him to slack off for half an hour, the idea of doing all of this again the following week had him instantly deciding otherwise. 

In fact, the following day Eren miraculously finished Block C just as the clock striked six, no matter how sore and exhausted his muscles and back were. Levi had been waiting outside in the hallways with thin black quirked eyebrows and arms crossed as Eren ran out of the male toilets, announcing loudly, “I’m done on time!” 

The janitor sighed loudly, waltzing inside to check both bathrooms. Eren had stood there so nervously, wringing his hands and chewing on his bottom lip as he waited to hear the final verdict. He prayed to every god he had ever heard of that it’d be acceptable enough for him not to repeat the bathroom rotation. In the end, Levi had all but hummed, telling the teen that he could go home without any added remarks. Eren had beamed a brilliant smile, a massive weight off his chest as he wished Levi a good weekend and ran off to get his things. 

  
  


-

  
  


After suffering through the most boring weekend of his life, Eren was for once looking forward to going to school. Having no interaction with his friends for two days straight, he was dying to hear what everyone got up to and the see the amount of memes he missed out on. 

Eren had gotten home Friday night only to shower, eat his food, and head straight for bed until well past the afternoon on Saturday. He did all his homework and assignments, including painstakingly typing them out on his mum’s laptop within a singular hour. 

For the rest of the night he laid around restlessly, biting his nails before giving up and reading the _totally not sexy_ erotica novels that he found in his mum’s study. As Sunday rolled by, Carla must have pitied him enough to allow Eren to at least watch TV. Any of his choosing too, including Netflix and Hulu. Of course, he had to stay in the lounge only, so his mum could keep a close eye on what he was watching. 

It sucked ass majorly because all Eren really wanted to do was watch that new Netflix show that everyone and their grandma was raving about. What was it called again? The… the Magician? The Witch? God, he couldn’t remember. All that came to mind was that Sasha had fawned over it, urging the group to watch it and join her lustful trail of finding the sexiest fanart of the MC.

Either way, he stuck to binge watching Friends again and resting his sore muscles all Sunday long. It was mind numbing after all the amount of times he’s seen the series, so it wasn’t the greatest distraction for him. Nevertheless, it was considered the safest thing to watch. 

So, by the time he climbed on the bus on Monday and found Armin and Marco sitting at the back, Eren was light on his feet with his heart full of joy at seeing them again. He relayed his most boring weekend and the Friday cleaning he had to do. They seemed sad for him which only led to Armin offering up his old 3DS to Eren to borrow for however long he needed it. Of course the teen agreed immediately, cause heck yeah he’d love to secretly waste time playing old Pokemon games. 

During the walk from outside of the school to their lockers, Marco spoke about how they discussed potential taggers again. To Eren, it seemed like Marco and Armin spent a few hours going through different people in their school year and that made him so happy. It felt nice that his friends truly did care for him and wanted to prove his innocence, no matter how difficult. 

At lunch, the group honed it on a few people they knew fairly well in their year level that could be potential suspects. These included Reiner, Bertolt, Annie, Ymir, Floch, and any one of the weirdos in Floch’s social group.

“Annie wouldn’t have done something like that,” Armin rebutted. “I’m sure of it. She may be classified as a bad girl and quiet, but she wouldn’t have stooped that low.”

“I agreed with Armin. Annie wouldn’t have,” Mikasa added. “She’s in my Tarot Card Reading club and she’s not that kind of person.” 

“Yeah, and I don’t think it’s Reiner and Bertolt either, man. Both of them are on the football team and the leaders of the Virtue club,” Connie expressed his input. “I’ll ask them anyway.”

“Last ones that are left are Ymir, Floch and his gang,” Marco sighed, nibbling on the end of his pencil. 

At the name of Floch, everyone around the lunch table turned to look at Jean expectedly. While Jean wasn’t friends with Floch in any way, they did share a lot of their classes and the teens lived next door to each other since early childhood. If any of them was going to confront the guy, it was going to have to be Jean, or else they’d all be targeted by the group of bullies Floch was in charge of. 

“I’m not coming near that fucker,” Jean declared, scoffing as he sat deeply into the plastic cafeteria chair. “I might be a douche at times, but that guy is on another level.” 

“You’re going to have to ask,” Marco smiled innocently, pulling an expression that Jean usually fell for. “You’re the only one who can.”

“No way, not happening,” Jean disagreed. “He would never give a truthful answer without blackmailing me somehow.” 

“Alright, so if we won’t target Floch yet, who is willing to ask Ymir?” Armin asked, not wanting to drag out the conversation of Floch any longer. Eren didn’t mind at all because even he still had unforgiving memories of the guy. 

This time, they all turned to Eren. It took the teen a long while to realise before jolting up, sputtering, “Wh-why me?”

“Historia,” they all sang in unison. Even Sasha had said it after being surprisingly quiet the entire time. 

At that thought, Eren replied, “Sasha, you’ve got two classes with her while I’ve got none.” 

“Nooo,” Sasha shook her head. “You don’t understand Eren! She won’t talk to me ever since she became the captain of the cheerleaders!”

“So? It can’t be hard to talk to her,” he retorted. 

“You’re the only one, just like Jean is the only one who can talk to Floch,” Sasha pushed. 

Eren sighed at that. While he liked Historia as a friend, he wasn’t going to openly talk to her. It was so easy to start stupid rumours when she was involved. The school basically worshiped the ground she walked on. But he had no choice. If they wanted to talk to Ymir, they had to address Historia first. Otherwise, Ymir wouldn’t give them the time of day, even if they cornered her. The teen decided he’ll leave that for another week. After all, he was sort of excited to see what his next rotation of cleaning was going to be with janitor Levi.

  
  


-

  
  


“Classroom rotation is the easiest,” Levi began, entering the first classroom of Block A. Eren followed the janitor inside, finding it a little messy with chairs not tucked in underneath the desks and some of them not in perfect alignment.

“You say it’s easy, but I bet it’s not, huh?” Eren sassed, his hands on his hips, happy to only be needing to wear gloves and no plastic apron or mask like he had for the bathroom rotation. 

“It is. We clean the desks, lift the chairs on desks, sweep and mop, and onto the next one,” Levi said, turning to look at the teen. Eren smiled hesitantly, a little surprised that it did seem pretty simple. “Follow me.”

Eren did so, coming to a stop at the far top left corner of the classroom. It was where the teacher’s desk was and the first student desk. He stood side by side next to Levi, waiting for the man to continue. 

“Spritz the sanitiser twice on the desktop,” Levi started, demonstrating to Eren. “Further away you squirt, the more surface you cover. Give it a wipe down, including the edges ‘cause you of all people should know how sweaty teenage brats can get.” 

Levi wiped the desk with a microfiber cloth within four hand movements. “Do all the tables and then start back up here, lifting the chairs onto the desk with the ass part facing flat onto the desktop.” Levi showed Eren by lifting the chair without placing it onto the still wet desk. “Sweeping and mopping is self-explanatory by now.”

“Huh,” Eren voiced, scratching at his chin. “That’s it?” he asked, completely dumb-founded. Perhaps Jean was right, maybe Levi did start him off with the shittiest, hardest job because this actually seemed doable. Even for him! Eren wouldn’t mind doing this rotation for the rest of the semester if he had a choice.

“Shit sure is.”

“Wow, it’s…” Eren stammered, looking down at the janitor beside him and smiling a little. “So much easier than the bathrooms.”

“Yeah,” Levi agreed, looking up to meet Eren’s eyes. Without missing a beat, he began walking down to the doorway. “Although, you’ll need to light a fire under your ass if you want to get two blocks done until five.”

“Two entire blocks!?” Eren exclaimed. That meant 24 classrooms in total. That was simply not humanly possible. No way! Twelve was fine. But 24? Eren was going to be dead tired by the end of that. Probably have to move to the speed of light, no doubt. Why did this man have so many unrealistic expectations of him?

“Don’t shit your pants. I’ll give you two days to get used to it. By then you’ll know the drill well enough,” Levi reassured. “See you in an hour, kid.”

Eren groaned, running a gloved hand through his brown hair. He stretched, apologising to his back for all the leaning that he’ll be doing within the next two hours before heading towards the trolley and grabbing the sprays and clothes he’d need. 

It was a pretty easy task. However, it took a long time. He knew Levi had stupidly high standards, so he was sure to wipe each surface twice, just to make sure they were all sparkling clean. He also now understood why there were never any pen marks on the desks, as the spray did a pretty good job at removing the ink that was etched into the wood. 

The teen liked to read what some of them said. One of the classrooms had a few scribbles of algebra on the desks, probably due to it being a math class. While another had words of love and phone numbers. One even had the html link of pornhub.com, which had Eren snorting. It was funny to read what his peers found amusing. It brought him back to a time when he thought it was cool to write on desks too. 

By the time Levi came to him, he was in the final classroom of Block A. Levi inspected each room, calling Eren back into a few, telling him to re-do a couple of desks. He wasn’t nearly as rude and intimidating as the previous week, but then again, Eren wasn’t making as many mistakes. He now knew the repercussions of not doing the job properly. Which led him to doing the best he could, for fear that he’d make Levi so angry again that the man would get physical with him.

Rather, it was sort of nice to not have Levi belittle him for all his mistakes. Still, the ones the janitor did point out he was rather blunt about, expressing that his foot could do a better job at wiping away at a black scuff mark than Eren’s right hand would. It was sort of funny, the teen had to admit. It felt easier to take it lightly and not to heart. Even if it did hurt a little because he was truly trying his hardest.

However, as the week flew by, it became more apparent that Eren _was_ getting better. The teen kept pushing through, working faster and faster; his arms and back going from aching to stiff to being able to handle all the rubbing and bending each afternoon brought. The very few mistakes Levi found left Eren angry with himself rather than at the man. It made him wonder just why is he still not cleaning up to the man’s standards in the simplest task in the world?

By Friday, Petra had pulled Eren back into the office at the beginning of her shift, waiting for the team, Levi included, to leave before talking to the teen. Eren looked at her in confusion since he still hadn't really gotten to know the cleaning team all that well.

“Don’t mind Levi, Eren,” Petra said quietly, her smile warm and her eyes bright. “He comes off rude a lot of times.”

Eren scoffed, wrinkling his nose. “You sure got that right, Petra. Why is he su-”

“Until he gets to know you,” Petra quickly interrupted. “I bet in no time you’ll start seeing that he cares. In little ways, of course.”

 _Yeah right,_ Eren thought bitterly. Here he was working his hardest, actually improving on his cleaning too, and yet, he could always count on Levi still finding the most minuscule mistake. 

“I doubt that.” Eren frowned, scratching at the back of his neck. “He just. He just won’t give me a break.”

“He’s like that at the beginning,” Petra replied, hand coming up to press comfortingly against Eren’s bicep. “I’m sure you’ll soon realise what I mean. The other cleaners and I think you’re doing a good job, both with handling Levi and the pressure of getting it right.”

With that, she let go of him and went off to do her rotation, leaving Eren bewildered and a little annoyed. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone who has been reading this fic! Thank you for also leaving the kindest comments ever! I'm really happy that both the birthday-girl and others are enjoying it! :D
> 
> Apologies in advanced for any mistakes!

Week three of detentions brought Eren’s first run with the cafeteria and hallways rotation. Even better, the week included a public holiday on Wednesday and Valentine’s day on Friday. Not that Eren ever celebrated that considering he’s never had a girlfriend _or_ boyfriend. 

It didn’t bug him so much as it did Jean, for instance. The teen dreaded to even start the week when Monday rolled by because he knew his horse-faced friend would not shut up about it as soon as any of the group arrived at school. What annoyed him even more was the bad-boy persona Jean always tried to pull. There was no way in a million years that was reeling in any potential partners. At this rate, shy and awkward Armin was going to end up with deadly silent Annie before Jean could ever score himself a date with any girl in their year level.

It was rather easy to blank out Jean’s constant yabber around the lunch table; his attention on poor Mikasa as she stared at Jean expressionless, clutching her magic enchantments book. She was probably cursing him with all kinds of bad luck. Marco on the other hand tried to stop Jean; everyone but Jean himself knowing full well that Marco harboured a crush on him for way too many years. Armin was lost in his own world, his laptop on the table while he was doing something no one cared about and Connie and Sasha were left alone to pig out on the chocolate chip muffins they had on special that day for lunch. 

Eren eventually rolled his eyes, lazily looking about and not wanting anything to do with Jean’s sickening Valentine’s Day talk. The room was filled with hundreds of students; their smiles brighter than normal as the week brought excitement. His eyes flicked the other way until he spotted Levi from across the cafeteria. With the janitor being in sight, that meant lunch time was probably going to end soon. He normally lingered around the large room, ready to take any plates, trays, and cutlery back to the kitchens as soon as the bell rang. The teen couldn’t help but bite his lip as he watched Levi bend over, stacking a few empty plates that a group of students left. 

While he still wasn’t sure how to feel about the janitor after their time together during his first week of detentions, Eren could at least still appreciate the man for how he looked. 

The bell rang then, reeling Eren from his thoughts. Levi looked up, catching Eren staring at him. The teen blushed and at a loss for anything better to do, he lifted his hand, waving at the janitor. Levi lifted his thin eyebrows in question, mouth pulling into a tight line with no indication that he was going to wave back. Eren’s cheeks grew even redder at the thought of what he had just done. _It was such a stupid idea to have waved at the man,_ he thought. Instantly regretting his decision, the teen quickly leaned forward to pick up his backpack and got the hell out of there before he could do any more foolish things. 

-

When Eren and Levi wheeled the trolley into the cafeteria that afternoon, it was eerily quiet in the massive room. It housed enough chairs for every single 1,500 or so students in the school, which only made the task a lot more daunting. 

“Lucky for you, we do the classrooms and the cafeteria cleaning schedule the same way,” Levi started, his black boots squeaking against the laminated floors. “Except, we use two sprays to clean the tables. The first is pink and it removes all the food and grime.” Levi held up the spray bottle before holding up another with his other hand. “The purple one is a sanitiser.”

Eren nodded. “So, to confirm, I clean the tables with both sprays, place the chairs up, ass down, and then sweep and mop?”

“Yeah, kid. After you’re done with that, you’ll need to sweep and mop the kitchen,” Levi confirmed. “Follow me.”

Eren did, all the way until they walked past the serving and paying station, and round the back into the kitchens.

“The chefs will have cleaned their part. All we have to do is clean the floors and turn off the lights.” 

“Sounds simple enough,” Eren beamed, happy with the task he was given. 

“Good. If you need me, I’m in the library. I’ll be back in an hour to see how strong that fire under your ass is burning,” Levi deadpanned, turning to leave the kitchen. 

Eren snorted, “Maybe at medium strength, cause you know, Mondayitis and all.”

The teen heard an ever so quiet but deep chuckle echo in the empty cafeteria, making his already beaming smile even brighter. He couldn’t help but bite his bottom lip as his heart jumped a beat at the sound. Patting his t-shirt covered chest and taking a deep breath, Eren urged it to calm down, telling himself not to overreact about hearing Levi laugh for the first time. It was just a silly joke, anyone would’ve laughed. It didn’t mean anything at all.

Still, the memory of it continually replayed in his mind as he scrubbed tables clean. The idea that he made the janitor chuckle fueled his speed. Eren hummed the entire time, happy to lean over the large oval tables as he wiped away all the sauce stains. He’d been so happy and quick about it, that by the time Levi came to check up on him, Eren had cleaned all the tables, sweeped and mopped the kitchens and was just mopping the last area of the cafeteria floors. 

“Heeh,” Levi hummed, eyebrows lifting to his black bangs and hand coming up to rub at his chin. “Not bad.”

“Yeah, not at all,” Eren answered, a smile still on his lips as he did a final swoop of the mop. Placing the mop head flat onto the laminated floor of the hallways and peeking into the large room, he continued, “Way easier than the classrooms.” 

“I’ll wait for the floors to dry to check on the tables. Start sweeping and mopping the halls of Block A next,” Levi instructed, walking away without another word. 

The teen took a deep breath, falling against the door frame. He wondered if Levi was ever going to tell him that he did a good or decent job or anything of the sort. Even a thanks would be nice. Considering how fast he worked, Eren felt proud of himself for what he achieved. Yet, it felt like it was all for nought. Gnawing on his lip, he stood and started to wheel the trolley over to where Block A classrooms were. 

On the way there, he tried not to take it personally. It’s like Petra had said; in due time, Levi would go easier on him. Now if only it was starting today and not in another three weeks or something. He just really wanted some sort of validation for the work he was doing. Especially coming from the janitor himself. The small chuckle Eren heard earlier lighted his heart to the brink, that he had no doubt that a ‘well done’ would probably make him burst at the seams and actually fuel the fire in his body to clean three blocks of bathrooms. In the meantime though, Eren supposed he’d just have to continue on with how he was. Work fast and diligently. Don’t make any mistakes and pray that Levi never yells at him again. 

-

Rest of the week went in a similar fashion, even if it included Eren staying until six on Tuesday to help finish off Blocks B and C floors. At least he had no school the following day and could catch up with his much needed withdrawal symptoms for the 3DS he was borrowing from Armin. But first, there was also all his homework and assignments. 

Only getting home at dinner time each day left Eren slowly falling behind on his school work. While he should’ve done the responsible thing and stayed up later each night to complete his tasks; the teen was much happier heading to bed at a respectable ten o’clock with a much needed thirty minute sessions of alone time with fantasy-Levi who was less of a dick and a lot more flirtatious. 

It seemed absurd to Eren. It wasn’t even three weeks ago when the man had left him battered and bruised -figuratively- and yet, there he was, slowly falling all over again. For just his looks of course. His personality and attitude was still such a drag. Still, the teen respected him either way. If it wasn’t for Levi, he’d be either expelled or sitting at home with suspension for a month. 

So, by the time he dragged his feet back into school on Thursday with Armin and Marco in tow, he tried not to let his imagination overtake him when he spotted the janitor on the grounds. Nor the stress of how much workload his classes drowned him in. It didn’t help that Mr Smith reprimanded him over his lackluster essay that he handed in on Tuesday. Even had the gall to suggest that Eren should take up tutoring with Armin again. It made Eren angry because he simply scored an 89% rather than his usual 95%. By his standards, that was barely even a drop. He tried not to let it get to him or ruin the good week that he was having. 

But come Friday, there was no other way to feel but annoyance. With the hallways decorated in red and pink streamers, lockers covered in paper hearts, and signs plastered all over the school, it was impossible to feel any kind of happiness. Love was certainly not on his agenda, simply because the one he was attracted to was out of reach and realistically, a dick. 

His somber mood lasted until lunch time when Mikasa and Sasha handed all the boys in their group chocolates. The girls explained they met up on the public holiday and made them for fun. They were simple yet elegant; little milk chocolate truffles packed nicely in a cellophane bag and tied with red ribbon. 

“There’s also rum ones,” Sasha whispered, shaking another lot of bags containing dark chocolate balls. “It’s not cooked, so don’t eat them while you’re at school.”

“Sash, it’s impossible to get drunk on rum balls,” Connie remarked with his hand deep into his first bag of chocolates.

“Thanks ‘Casa,” Eren smiled, taking the second bag of chocolates from her. She smiled back, her lips dark red rather than the usual black she wore. 

Beside him, Jean was sitting stock still, his cheeks flaming red as he held the small bag of chocolates in the palms of his hands as if he had found pure gold. Eren snorted at his friend’s reaction. Knowing Jean, he probably did think he hit the best jackpot of his life. This was the first time Mikasa had ever given him chocolates. Or anything, really. 

“You get an extra bag,” Mikasa murmured, handing Jean a bag containing white chocolate balls. 

Eren sat up abruptly, mouth falling up, nose wrinkled in both horror and disgust. “What!?”

It was news to him. Eren knew without a doubt that Mikasa didn’t harbour any returning feelings for Jean, so why on earth was horse-face getting an extra treat? Not even Connie got the white chocolate ones and Sasha was his girlfriend. Had Mikasa lost her mind, he wondered. 

“Are-are-yo-you serious?” Jean stuttered, his face now glowing a brilliant red. Mikasa nodded, no smile on her face at all. 

Eren watched the exchange incredulously, feeling a little bit jealous because how dare horse-face get another bag of chocolates and not him, who has been friends with Mikasa since they were eight! 

“Where’s mine?” Eren complained jokingly. 

“There is none. This one is just for Jean,” Mikasa explained, moving to sit back in her seat from across the table. _Well, that’s not fair,_ Eren thought.

“Ju-just for me?” Jean marvelled, eyes transfixed and wide open as he held all three bags.

Scoffing, Eren leaned sideways, shoving Jean’s shoulder harshly. “Give me one.” 

“Wha-what? No way, dick,” Jean argued, lifting the bags up in the air. Eren tried reaching for them before realising Marco, Connie and Armin weren’t curious about the chocolates at all. It seemed almost strange because Connie wasn’t the kind of guy to ever want to miss out on something.

Wondering just why the other three were so silent about, he turned his face to look at the group, spotting that Connie was making a hand gesture. The teen was slicing his neck, shaking his head slowly, mouthing the words “stop.” 

When Jean leaned further backwards, Eren mouthed, “Why?” only for Connie to fist both hands in front of his face before letting them go, fingers spreading out wide as he blew a raspberry. Eren gasped, completely understanding the motion. 

“You know what horse-face, I suddenly remembered I don’t like white chocolate. They’re all yours.”

“Serves you right, trying to steal the chocolates Mikasa made _especially_ for me,” Jean sassed. 

Only when the bell rang and after he waved a hello to Levi who started packing down the cafeteria, did Eren leap towards Connie as they made their way through the halls. Sadly, he didn’t get much information from his friend aside from that it was Sasha’s idea and her explanation was, Jean had it coming for years for bugging Mikasa.

-

  
  


“Say Eren, got any Valentine’s day gifts today?” Oluo provoked, his smile and voice taunting.

Paying him no mind and not wanting to give Oluo any reason to keep on teasing him, Eren took off his winter jacket and answered, “Not really, just from my friends.” 

The older man snickered, leaning in close to Eren to jutt his elbow into the teen’s ribs.“No girlfriend to take on a date tonight then?”

Eren laughed awkwardly, leaning away from the boney elbow. “Nah.” He scratched at the back of his head, a little hesitant before confessing. “Even if I did, it’d probably be a boyfriend instead.”

Oluo hummed, rubbing his chin suspiciously. “Batting for the same team, eh? Looks like you finally have one thing in common with Levi.” 

Eren’s eyes widened, his jacket slipping right out of his fingers and onto the floor. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. The teen’s heart skipped a beat, his mind tumbling like he was on a rollercoaster. If it was true, then… then perhaps he did stand a chance. Maybe he didn’t have to feel guilty anymore about fantasy-Levi or ogling at the janitor when around the school. 

“Oluo!” Petra hissed from the cupboard she stood in front, twisting around to where Levi entered the bathroom, the lock sounding out quite loudly.

“What?” Oluo complained, hands in the air. “Twerps’ ought to know that he can stare without worrying.”

Eren swallowed, bending down to pick up the jacket from the floor as blood rushed to his face. _Oh my god_ , he thought frantically, heart beating loudly in his ears. Was his staring that obvious? Did that mean that Levi was aware too? If the cleaning squad saw it, then there was no doubt that the janitor saw it too. Unless Oluo was just pulling his leg. Running a hand through his hair, Eren decided that it had to be. Considering the cocky expression Oluo still wore, it couldn’t have been anything more than just to get the teen riled up.

Eld snorted from the desk, picking up a set of keys to hide his quiet laugh that followed. 

“I don't think you should be encouraging Eren into partaking in _more_ illegal activities,” Gunther chided, a clear scowl on his face. 

“Exactly my thoughts,” Petra agreed, wrapping a plastic apron around herself.

Eren’s mind erratically jumped from one topic to another as he continued to listen. Truthfully he hadn’t ever truly thought about how old Levi could potentially be. He didn’t seem or look that old and even then, age hasn’t ever bothered Eren all that much. He knew he had a taste for older people considering his general attraction to a lot of teachers. Curious as to what age Levi really was, he asked, “How old is he?” 

“Didn’t you know it’s rude to ask for your elder’s age?” Oluo exasperated, his smile smug as ever. Eren pulled a face, shoulders shrugging in showing that no, he didn’t know that at all. 

“Thirty two,” Eld answered nonchalantly. 

_Welp,_ Eren thought. There goes all his hopes and dreams, even if Levi was interested in the same sex. Now Eren could really rule out not standing a chance of Levi ever changing the way he acted around him. It explained the man’s attitude as well. Their age gap of fifteen years did make Eren a kid in Levi’s eyes. 

Perhaps he ought to start calling Levi ‘Sir’ or something. Anything a bit more respectful, really. Perhaps that’s why Levi was still being rude to him. Maybe the janitor didn't like how Eren spoke to him and actually wanted to be called something more formal. 

Even so, the teen always assumed Levi was in his twenties. Maybe late twenties if he was willing to push it. But early thirties!? Levi didn’t look that old at all! Weren’t people at that age normally starting to grow grey or some shit _Oh god,_ he groaned internally. It may be super bad for him to continue on with his unhealthy obsession with fantasy-Levi knowing his age now, but he decided right there and then that he’d have to start imagining the janitor a bit differently under those clothes. 

“Enough with the chit-chat,” Levi interrupted, banging the bathroom door shut. “Get off your lazy asses. The filthy school won’t clean itself.”

“Sorry, Levi,” Petra smiled apologetically. 

The others muttered their apologies too, grabbing their group trolleys and heading outside and into the cold. Eren was about to exit the room with his in tow, but was stopped when Levi pulled it. Curiously twisting his head to see why, he found the janitor looking over his shoulder to Petra and Oluo and with the corners of lips ever so slightly twitching. 

“Word of warning you two,” Levi said. “I’ve had to block off a cubicle in Block D male toilets. Some kid dropped a bomb in there today and went home afterwards.” 

“And you left it to us?” Oluo complained, rubbing at his forehead. 

“Figured I’d leave it for the best team,” Levi replied, face serious as always before turning back to push the trolley on wards. 

Eren laughed breathlessly, feeling sorry not only for Petra and Oluo, but also the poor teen who had, just like him, experienced the worst runs of his life at school. Although, he felt a little envious that the poor soul wasn’t caught for tagging and got to exit that bathroom unscathed except for perhaps a sore asshole. 

Still, just as quickly as that thought came, it left. Eren had more important things to think about; such as Levi and how good looking he was for a man of his age and that he _liked_ men. Whether that be bi or gay, Eren couldn’t be sure, but it didn’t matter because there was an inkling of hope now. He still felt shell-shocked at the revelation. It continued to boil in his mind throughout the afternoon. It did slow him down a little bit as he cleaned which resulted in Levi ordering him to stay an extra hour to do the work, yet the teen didn’t care about it so much. He was far too lost in his own thoughts. 

The new things he learned about Levi had Eren walking home in a complete daze. The snow fluttered around him, his steamy breath disturbing his vision. It didn’t matter as the teen’s mind was a million miles away, back in the fantasy world of where Levi wasn’t as much of a dick as he came off to be, and where he reciprocated Eren’s attraction. 

  
  


-

  
  


The blessed thing was that Eren’s second run of the bathrooms meant a short week. With Monday being yet another public holiday, the teen had a bounce in his step on Tuesday when he came out of the bathroom by Levi’s office, dressed in his shabby clothes and ready to take on those dreaded toilets all over again. 

Levi and Eren were silent as they made their way over to Block A bathrooms. It wasn’t anything new since Levi wasn’t much of a talker. However, Eren could feel a strange awkwardness between them. The teen didn’t make mention of it because he knew the janitor would come forth about whatever was bothering him eventually. It was no use thinking about it either. 

That is until they parked up the trolley outside of Block A toilets. Levi clicked his tongue and leaned against a locker as Eren got all his cleaning solutions ready. “Alright, I’ve got a new alternative for you.”

Looking up from where he was bent over, Eren curiously asked, “What is it, sir?” 

“Clean two blocks of bathrooms and I’ll allow you to spend the rest of your detention today doing the library.” 

Eren looked up at that, sucking in a deep breath at Levi’s plan. He couldn’t believe it! Was Levi really going to spare him from doing all the dirty work? Only four weeks into the detentions too? Was he finally going to allow Eren to do the one task Levi always did by himself? The teen had always been so curious about what Levi got up to in there while he slaved away doing, what he assumed, the worst kind of work. The idea that he could skip out on cleaning toilets had Eren over the moon. He would do anything to not clean them for two whole hours. 

“Really?” Eren blurted, standing up as his face brightened at the prospect. “Why the sudden change in mind, sir?”

Meeting Eren’s eyes, Levi continued. “At the rate you’re going, I'll be working overtime for the rest of the year whenever we’re doing the shitty bathroom rotation.” 

“Oh…” Eren murmured. He hadn’t realised that his slowness meant he was making Levi work longer hours. It sort of made sense though, considering the janitor was usually seen on the school grounds by mid morning. Eren bit his bottom lip and looked at the floors, feeling a little guilty. N wonder, apart from this needing to be proper punishment, Levi constantly kept hounding his ass about working faster. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realise you were working overtime, sir.” 

“It’s whatever,” Levi dismissed. “You’ve proved to me you’re _competent_ enough to work fast. Why are the bathrooms such a fucking hassle for you in comparison?”

“Uhmm...” Eren hummed sheepishly, hand coming up to rub at the back of his sculpt as he met Levi’s grey eyes. “I’m sorry, sir.”

Rolling his eyes, Levi tilted his head a little to the side before answering, “Rhetorical question.”

“Still, I’m sorry,” Eren apologised again, eyebrows drawn down in a puppy-like manner. “So the alternative, sir?” 

“Get two blocks done within an hour and I’ll show you the library,” Levi affirmed, standing up straight. 

“Yes sir,” Eren replied quickly with a nod. He could do that. He would for sure, especially if it meant scrubbing less disgusting toilets. Eren loved a challenge and this one was certainly do-able. 

“Fucking hell,” Levi scoffed. “Enough with the _sirs_. You’re making me feel like I’m an old man. Levi is fine.”

“Are you sure?” Eren asked, brows furrowed. So, his assumption about Levi wanting something more formal wasn’t correct. Maybe it really was just a personality-flaw. 

“Yes you little shit. Levi and only Levi,” the janitor confirmed. “Now get to work and I’ll see you in an hour.” 

“Oh-Okay, Levi,” Eren answered quietly, watching the man walk down the hallways. His hesitant smile slowly formed into a much brighter one. It lingered with him the entire time, even when he secretly practiced the name rolling off his tongue.

_Levi._

It felt so good to say it outloud with no one around.

  
  


-

  
  


“Library is easy but a big ass job,” Levi started, guiding Eren into the library the teen very rarely visited. The man was holding some sort of vacuum cleaner backpack along with a feather duster, spray bottle and rag. Coming to a stop by the librarian’s desk, Levi turned to continue. “Wipe the tables, ass down the chairs and dust the shelves. Last job is vacuuming.”

Eren nodded in understanding as his eyes made their way to the vacuum Levi had hanging on his one shoulder. “Backpack vacuum?” He asked. 

“Vacuum can be found where we keep the trolleys. You’ll need to use this blue one as the other colour coded ones are for the rest of the cleaners,” Levi explained, holding up the backpack vacuum cleaner. 

If Eren was honest, he’d never seen a backpack vacuum in his life. The teen didn’t think he ever was going to either. Definitely not while at school. But there he was, being handed a large and extremely heavy vacuum that Levi awkwardly helped him put on. 

“Have the straps tight or else it’ll slide down your back,” the janitor warned. “Don’t think you want to walk with a limp at this age.”

“I already kind of do because of my after school activities,” Eren blurted, running his mouth before he understood what came out. As soon as he realised what he implied, the teen’s face began to grow an impossible red, including the tips of his ears. Levi stared at him blankly, his thin lips pulled in a tight line and his brows hitched. 

“Uhhh, uhmm,” Eren quickly spluttered, waving his hands in front of him frantically. “I-I mean because of the cleaning and-”

The teen felt like he was about to combust from embarrassment. Why did he allow himself to run his mouth like that? For god’s sake, this was janitor Levi, not his friends. He couldn’t speak like that in front of an adult. Oh god, what was Levi going to think of him now? His thoughts kept scrambling wildly, making Eren want to dig a hole to bury himself into as he waited for some kind of reaction from the older man. 

The janitor broke their silence as he blew out a breath from his nose, chuckling breathlessly as he ran a hand through his black fringe. “I don’t care what the fuck you get up to, kid,” Levi replied. “As I was going to say, I’ll give you an hour to clean the entire place.”

“Sounds do-able,” Eren nodded quickly, face still glowing as if he was trying to compete with a tomato. “I’ll be done in a jiffy.”

“God can only hope so,” Levi deadpanned. “It’d be nice to leave at six today.”

“I’ll make sure of it,” Eren assured, a tug of guilt pulling in his stomach as he calmed down. 

“Get to work then,” Levi instructed, leaving Eren to do his job. 

Eren found cleaning the library kind of calming. The room was cosy and warm, and the carpet felt soft under his sneakers. Dusting the shelves wasn’t hard at all since they were all mostly clean. The tables and librarian’s desk weren't dirty either, just a few pen scratches here and there. It was an easy task compared to the classroom rotation simply because there were less tables to clean. 

On the other hand, the vacuum cleaner was something to get used to. While it was nice to not lug around something on the ground like his mum would force him to do at home, it was difficult to get the right height on the long metal pipe. Whoever the vacuum cleaner was designed for never predicted that someone as tall as Eren would use it. Unless it had the option to go longer, but was just stuck at the short length due to Levi’s own bite-sized height. The teen couldn’t help but snicker at that thought, laughing to himself as he bent forward to sweep the vacuum head at a corner of the library. 

Still, he could admit that using the vacuum was pretty cool. It reminded him of that old movie his mother loves so much and rewatches every year at Halloween. Eren had seen it so many times, that by now the theme song was engraved into his mind. He hummed the tune continuously as he worked and felt a little sad that he wouldn’t be able to go home and listen to it.

So, by the time he finally finished the first run of vacuuming the entirety of the library, Eren gave in to his childish desires that built up throughout his time working. Lifting the metal piping and nozzle with one hand, he bent his knees, leaning a little backwards and began to belt out loudly; no doubt making his mother proud for how well he knew the song. 

“Baa duhm da da da,” Eren chanted, holding the piping close to his body while the other hand strummed it like it was an electrical guitar. “Da da dadaaa dadadadadaaa duhh, Ghostbusters!”

“If there’s something strange,” Eren sang, head falling back, the short strands of his hair tickling his nape, “In your neighbourhood.” He leaned forward rather viciously, nearly losing his balance. “Who you gonna call?” He jumped, righting his balance and holding up the vacuum pipe into the air, “Ghostbusters!” he boomed out, voice echoing in the quiet library. 

Eren was so transfixed in his own world, he kept singing the beat, air guitaring the synthesizer part as the song played out in his mind. “I ain’t no afraid of no ghost!” He stomped his foot loudly, head shaking wildly like he was a rockstar as he played out the imaginary rift, voicing the tune. “If you see things running through your head, who you gonna call? Ghostbus-”

“Oi, brat. What the fuck are you doing?” 

“Shit!” Eren shouted, stepping forward as a deep voice penetrated his off-tune singing. His heart leaped right out of his chest, his already pink cheeks from the dancing suddenly glowing from embarrassment. Breathing deeply, he quickly turned to face the janitor, finding him standing by the entrance with arms crossed tightly. 

“Na-nothing! Sa-sorry, Sir… uhh I mean Levi!” Eren sputtered, nearly saluting as his mind struggled at being caught in such an embarrassing situation. For the second time in one night even. Now he truly just wanted to die from his actions. He was having so much fun that he didn’t realise it was already that late.

Clicking his tongue and shaking his head slowly, Levi commented, “Doesn't look like fucking nothing, you asshat.”

“No... I mean yes, uhhh,” Eren laughed nervously, his heart ready to explode from not knowing what to do or even say. He was doing such a terrible job of explaining himself. Biting his lip and deciding to be truthful, he answered. “I couldn’t help it.” 

“What are you, fucking fifteen?” Levi grunted.

“Seventeen,” Eren corrected, gulping when Levi suddenly scowled even deeper, “I’ve finished vacuuming already so-” 

“So you should’ve come to get me rather than dance like you’ve got shit hanging from your ass.” 

“Sorry,” Eren murmured, screaming loudly inside of his head at the way Levi described his dancing. Was he really that bad of a dancer? 

“Yeah, whatever,” Levi replied, uncrossing his arms and walking further into the library. “Have you cleaned the desks too?”

“Yes,” Eren confirmed, standing up as straight as he can as Levi neared. “Even wiped the librarian’s desk.”

“Good. I’ll check them,” Levi answered, walking out of sight to do his inspection of Eren’s cleaning.

Eren waited, time ticking away as if it was in slow motion. His body was so tensed, standing as still as possible and even shaking a little as he waited for Levi to come back. He just wanted to get the heck out of there. Not only had he embarrassed himself once, he just had to do it twice. The fact that Levi thought his dancing was terrible had him wanting to run home and never return. This was even worse than having Levi know about his shitting-situation that one fateful day. Why was fate like this to him? Why was the world dead set on making him continuously make a fool of himself in front of the man he thought was so utterly attractive? 

“Alright kid. You can go home now.”

Breathing a huge sigh of relief, Eren’s tensed body relaxed at hearing the final verdict. “No mistakes this time?” He asked hesitantly. 

“For once, no,” Levi answered, standing a metre away from Eren and holding out his hand. 

“A miracle!” Eren beamed, shrugging off the backpack vacuum cleaner and passing it onto the janitor. He rolled his shoulders, feeling good from having the heavy weight off his body. 

“Don’t celebrate yet. You might just fuck it up again tomorrow,” Levi said, easily flinging it over his own shoulder. 

“No I won’t,” Eren disagreed, watching as Levi walked to the desk where the teen left the feather duster and other cleaning supplies. 

“Prove it,” the man challenged, picking up the items.

“I will,” Eren assured. Rubbing at his nape, at a loss of what to say next, the teen settled on, “Well.. uh.. See you tomorrow then.”

“Yeah, goodnight,” Levi replied. Happy with that reply, Eren turned and headed for the entrance. He was about to round the door when Levi called out to him. “Oh and...”

Eren twisted his upper body, curious as to what else the janitor had to say.

“Ghostbusters, huh? Not bad taste at all.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Ghostbusters!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9We2XsVZfc)


End file.
